Respirators



United t s P entO RESPIRATORS Werner Sandelowslry, Farrniugdale, N.Y. Application March 14, 1957, Serial N6. 646,078 3 Claims Cl. 128-29 The general object of the invention is to provide a valving mechanism capable of use in conjunction with available air supply or air pumping devices, for controlling the application of positive and negative pressure to a mask, and thereby produce controlled inhalation and exhalation.

With this and still other objects which will appear in mind, a mechanism embodying the invention in a preferred form will now first be fully described with reference to the accompanying drawing, and the features forming the invention will then be pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a schematic side elevation of a mechanism embodying the invention in a preferred form;

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig.1;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33 of Figs. 2 and 4; and

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 44 of Fig. 3-.

The valve unit, which is best shown in Figs. 2-4, comprises a cylinder 10, supported on a base 11, and containing the valve body or rotor 12. Face plates 13, 14 are secured to the cylinder by means of bolts or tie rods 15 and support the rotor shaft 16 by means of anti-friction bearings 17. The cylinder and face plates are provided with six posts and hose or tubing connection fittings, one pair of ports 20, '21 connecting to the patients mask, another pair 22, 23 connecting to atmosphere and a third pair 24, 25 connecting to the pump unit, all as indicated in Fig. 1. The rotor 12 has ports and passages for suitably connecting the six casing ports, as follows. First of all, the rotor 12 has a passage or opening against face plate 14, so as to communicate with port 24 or 25, according to rotor position, and also opening against the near side of the cylinder 10 so as to communicate with port 20, or not, depending on rotor position. Communicating with opening 30 is a bore 31 leading to an arcuate channel or groove 32 against face plate 13, so as to communicate with port 21, or not, according to rotor position.

The passages and openings just described occupy about one half the rotor (the upper half in the position of the figures). The lower half of the rotor comprises an opening 40 against face plate 14 for communicating with the port or fitting 25, and the opening 40 communicates, in turn, through a bore 41 with a peripheral groove 42 which establishes communication with either the port 23 or the port 22, according to the position of the rotor. The upper and lower halves of the rotor are sealed off from each other against the face plate 14 by a partition or wall 43.

2,914,064 Patented Nov. 24, 1959 In operation, it will be understood that the pump unit contains desired negative and positive pressure in a manner well understood in itself and forming in itself no part of the present invention. 1 The mask, indicated schematically in Fig. 1, may be of any usual type such as now used for basal metabolism tests and other purposes and is connected through rotor hoses or tubing 44, 45 to the fittings 20 and 21, as shown. Suitable filters or medicament atomizers may be inserted in 'the lines 44 and 45, according to the treatment to be given and in accordance with present practice; In the position of the figure, connection is established from the mask through tubing 45 and fitting 20 to the rotor space 30 and hence through fitting 24 and tubing 46 to the pump unit, thus producing exhalation, under a vacuum or negative pressure determined by the adjustment of the pump unit in the usual way. The air pumped through the pump unit is conducted through tubing 46 to fitting 25 and hence through rotor spaces 40, 41 and 42 to the port or fitting 23 where it is discharged to atmosphere. Rotation through about a quarter turn from the position shown will reverse this operation, so that rotor space 40 is now in communication with fitting 24 and connects this fitting through bore 40 and peripheral groove 42 with port or fitting 22, so that the pump unit suction is now connected to atmosphere. At the same time rotor space 30 will have been brought into operative position with respect to fitting 25 connected to the pump high pressure or discharge side so that air from the pump will be delivered through bore 31 and to the arcuate channel 32 and hence to fitting 21 and-tube 44 leading to the mask. Under these conditions,-icontrolled inhalation will be produced. The air may be obtained directly from the atmosphere of the room or by connecting fitting 22 to any suitable source and may be modified or supplemented in any desired manner.

The time ratio as between inhalation and exhalation may readily be controlled by varying the peripheral spaces 30 and 41 and will ordinarily be arranged so that the ratio of inspiration or inhalation to expiration or exhalation will be about 1 to 1.3. Other ratios may, however, be selected if desired.

It will be observed that the design of the valving unit is such as to permit thorough cleaning and even sterilization of the rotor if desired, by unfastening the tie elements 15, separating the face plates and removing the rotor.

What is claimed is:

1. In a therapeutic respirator apparatus having an air pump and a mask for supplying and exhausting air to and from the patient, a valving mechanism comprising a ported casing comprising a cylindrical body and removable face plates having supply and exhaust connections to atmosphere, to the pump and to the mask, and a unitary rotor having passages for alternately connecting the pump discharge to the mask and the pump suction to atmosphere and the pump discharge to atmosphere and the pump suction to the mask.

2. In a therapeutic respirator apparatus having an air pump and a mask for supplying and exhausting air to and from the patient, a valving mechanism comprising a ported casing having supply and exhaust connections to atmosphere, to the pump and to the mask, and a rotor having passages for alternately connecting the pump discharge to the mask and the pump suction to atmosphere and the pump discharge to atmosphere and the pump suction to the mask, the said pasages being so proportioned as to give a ratio of about 1 to 1.3 between time of inhalation and expiration.

3. In a therapeutic respirator apparatus having an air pump and a mask for supplying and'exhausting air a unitary cylindrical rotorbodyhaving on one face thereof a diaphragm separating the two sides thereof, the rotor having an opening on one side of the said diaphragm communicating with a face of the. cylindrical profile of the rotor and with the periphery of the said profile, and a bore leading from the said opening to the opposite face of the rotor, the rotor further having an opening in the first said face on the opposite side of the said diaphragm closed off from the periphery of the rotor and a bore connecting the second said open-- ing to the rotor periphery adjacent the opposite face of the rotor and to the opposite face thereof, and a casing comprising a cylindrical body and removable face plates cooperating with the said rotor, the said cylindrical body having opposed air intake and discharge ports for cooperating with the second said bore opening into the periphery of the rotor, a port for connection to a mask in the second said face plate in position for cooperating with the second said bore, a second port for connection to the mask positioned in the cylindrical casing for cooperation with the first mentioned rotor openings, and a pair of diametrically opposite ports in the first said face plate positioned for cooperating with the said openings on the two sides of the said diaphragm.

References Cited in the file of this patent U ITED STATES PATENTS 

